Global T20 Canada 2019 is off to a brilliant start

It's the second season of the Global T20 Canada cricket tournament and this year we have already seen more crowds coming in to watch their role models play the beautiful game of cricket.

A big factor in attracting audiences this season has been the shift in venue. Last year the tournament was hosted at King City which was an hour away from the Toronto airport. This year the stadium is located in the city of Brampton, which is in the Greater Toronto area and is host to many subcontinent immigrants. People of all ages have come out to the ground and have enjoyed some high quality cricket played by some of the biggest stars in world cricket.

Yuvraj Singh has been a major crowd puller. The first game was on a weekday (Thursday) during work hours (12:30 PM local time start), but the fans still turned up in big numbers to watch him play. International stars who played in the World Cup such as Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz, Shadab Khan, Chris Gayle, Ish Sodhi, James Neesham, Faf du Plessis have added flavour to the tournament as well.

Drop-in pitches have made the matches more interesting. Batsmen have played their shots while the bowlers have also got assistance from the pitch as well. The small ground has led to the ball being hit out of the park on many occasions, and plenty of balls have been lost

There have been some teething problems such as parking issues and problems with the electronic scorecard, but overall the league has improved from last year. Batsmen have an advantage with the good pitches and small boundaries in this tournament, but we saw Ish Sodhi pick up a five-wicket haul with an economy of 2 runs on Saturday with his daring leg spin.

The commentary team present for this tournament is also star-studded with the likes of Dean Jones, Simon Doull, and Gautam Bhimani sharing their expertise with the viewers. Erin Holland is the host and has provided excellent coverage including interviews with players, coaches and fans as well.

The tournament is heading in the right direction and for fans in Canada, the CAA Centre in Brampton will be equivalent to Disneyland for the next two weeks.